[emileeln08]

Hi,

I recently purchased a Dell Inspiron 1525 laptop in August. Everything has been running perfectly...until today.

Whenever I logged onto my computer this evening, I noticed that my mouse cursor was acting very sluggish. A few minutes after that, it COMPLETELY stopped working. I restarted, thinking that maybe my computer had just been on too long and that it needed a reboot. But the cursor was still frozen whenever it rebooted. I restarted THREE times, but there was no change. I plugged the USB mouse from my desktop computer into it, and IT'S working just fine. So I know it's a problem with the touchpad. Now, I haven't dropped it or anything...so I really don't think it's my fault. I tried re-installing the driver for the touchpad from the Dell website, but it didn't work either. There's a little icon down in the tray at the bottom right of my screen that shows the touchpad activity, as well as the left- and right-clicker buttons. It doesn't show that there is any activity on the touchpad, but whenever I press the left- and right-clicker buttons, it shows that they are working. What do I do? It's brand new and it's practically my life! I'm upset. Ha ha. Thanks for the help, in advance.

Edited by emileeln08, 08 November 2008 - 11:46 PM.

[Advertisements]

Return the laptop to the vendor if it's new - should be guaranteed for a year, some brands even longer than that.
You've already tried the obvious remedy of re-installing the driver and nothing else comes to my mind.

[phillip22]

Return the laptop to the vendor if it's new - should be guaranteed for a year, some brands even longer than that.
You've already tried the obvious remedy of re-installing the driver and nothing else comes to my mind.

[The Admiral]

Hi Emilee, and welcome to Geeks to Go! Sorry to hear about your touchpad problems.

I want to see if your problem only happens in Windows. We're going to be running a test outside of Windows, so you may want to print these instructions out for your reference by finding the Options button under the New Topic button, and selecting Print this Topic.

First, please turn your laptop off. Then turn it back on while holding down the blue <Fn> key. Just in case that isn't clear, I want you to hold down the <Fn> key, then press the power button. When you see a message on the screen that says "Diagnostic boot selected," you can let go of the <Fn> key.

Some tests are going to start on a blue screen. You'll see some color bars show up on the screen, and it will ask you if you saw the bars. Press Y for Yes, and it will run a couple more tests. It will ask you if you want to run the remaining memory tests, press N for No, and it will get you into the diagnostic partition, which is a grey window on a blue screen. We don't actually want to run any tests, all we want to do is move the cursor using the touch pad. It should move as normal. If not, we may be looking at a hardware issue. But if it does move normally, we know that the problem is somewhere in Windows, and we can certainly fix it.

Please post back with the results!

Edited by The Admiral, 09 November 2008 - 11:32 AM.

[emileeln08]

Hi Admiral,

I ran the Diagnostic boot thing like you said to do, but whenever I hit "N" for the more testing option, it took me to a screen with three options, listed as "Run Diagnostics", "System Test" (or something like that anyway), and "Exit Diagnostics". To navigate and pick which option I wanted, I was supposed to use the Tab and Enter keys. I never saw a mouse cursor at all. Did I do something wrong? Thank you for trying to help me! I really appreciate it.

[geeKISSexy]

I have the same issue as emilee. My laptop curser gets slower and slower til it stops, and then it suddenly will go crazy and select everything, then die again. I tried to do a diagnostic boot as Admiral commented above, but it didn't work? My laptop is under warrenty as well, so I can return it if needed, but I would like to find out what is wrong.

[enigma12]

this may sound silly but try umm..... try a known good AC Adaptor ^____^

[momo24]

hi everybody..
i have exactly the same problem of emilee and i couldn't find any solution for my touchpad who is currently blocked anywhere else..so please help us..
thx

[djkmann]

I too, like many Inspiron 1525 owners, have the touchpad problem. My touchpad has worked fine for a couple years, and I have always used a cooling fan pad device under my laptop to prevent overheating. Once, when I was traveling without the fan, the erratic touchpad problem began. I turned off the system, let it cool, and did not have the problem again until several months later when it began again. Again, I let it cool, and the problem disappeared. But not wanting to have the problem when traveling, I tried this repair:

http://en.community....1/19505726.aspx

It involves putting tape under the touchpad ribbon connection to make a tighter connection. The theory is that when the computer gets hot, the connection doesn't work as well, so the layer of tape tightens the connection. It is a very delicate operation, but can be done if careful. However, after doing this, I began having the erratic touchpad problem all the time! Updating the driver and the BIOS does not help. Trying a Synaptics driver does not help.

Through trial and error I discovered something very strange: the problem does not occur if I have my printer plugged into a USB port. The touchpad works perfectly then, nice and smooth, no stopping, no jumping ever. The printer doesn't have to be on and the touchpad is still fine. However, if I just plug the printer USB cable into the USB port but not into the printer, the touchpad is erratic. If I plug the printer USB cord into the laptop and into the printer, but unplug the printer power cord, the touchpad is erratic. If I unplug the printer USB from the laptop and unplug the laptop power using the battery instead, the touchpad works fine.

So, it seems that it is some sort of electrical or grounding issue. I know nothing about how this would affect the touchpad. Does anyone have any thoughts? Is there some way to ground something inside the laptop, or move some cord or connection inside so that the problem goes away without having to resort to the printer being always attached? Is it related to the Dell power cord? I have a 2 prong 65 watt. Maybe the 3 prong will ground it and solve this problem?

Edited by djkmann, 13 May 2010 - 08:30 PM.

[nina84]

Guys I have the same problem, tried everythin here , nothing works. Tried enabling and disabling touchpad settings, took it to an IT guy who reinstalled touchpad software from Dell and i am using a usb mouse now. How can I make my touchpad work again, I have had the computer for less than a year but bought it when I was in the US and i am back in Europe now. Plsss help as I need to finish my thesis and it is getting frustrating with all the pc problems. Thanks.

[phillpower2]

Hi nina84 sorry to hear you are having this issue.
It is always more helpful if you start your own thread and then
provide a link to the thread that is most similar to your own,
this will enable others to help you better.
I would recommend that you contact dell Europe and seek their
advice regarding them repairing it http://support.euro.dell.com/
Do you still have your proof of purchase from the US, as this
is the only stipulation I can see them making after all what
is the point of purchasing a portable computer if you are not
allowed to transport it.
If for some reason dell will not repair it the link below seems
to offer the best solution, if you are not comfortable doing
the repair yourself I would only trust a person that you know
to be competent to make the repair.
http://en.community....1/19505726.aspx

Good luck

Edited by phillpower2, 29 June 2010 - 08:13 AM.

[nina84]

Hi,

Thanks for the help. I will check if I have the receipt for my purchase although I doubt it would be easy to find. Anyway, i clicked on the link you provided and it says: Bad request ( nothing shows up)

Nina

[phillpower2]

Sorry, I have edited post and it should be ok

[nina84]

This looks like a good fix , thanks for sharing. I might let a more technically apt person do it.

[stanlam]

I just installed the 64 bit, dell input driver r244796, on the Dell Inspiron 1525, and the scrolling does work. This should work for 64bit Vista or Windows 7. Here's the link for the download....

ftp://ftp1.dell.com/input/R244796.EXE

[deojames]

start your pc in safe mode, uninstall dell touchpad driver in device manager then restart your pc